Five Practical Reasons Not to Vote Republican

There is no shortage of reasons not to vote Republican. The litany includes tax cuts for the rich, cutbacks in government programs, obstructing needed legislation, disregard for the environment, denial of women's and other human rights, military escalation.

But the following five reasons have to do with money -- specifically, who's paying for the $1 trillion of annual tax savings and tax avoidance for the super-rich? And who's paying for the $1 trillion of national security to protect their growing fortunes? The Republicans want that money to come from the rest of us.

Paul Ryan's proposed budget would take about a half-trillion dollars a year from programs that support the poor. This is a continuation of a 15-year shredding of the safety net by Republicans. The GOP-controlled Congress of Bill Clinton created Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), which has experienced a 60% drop in its caseload despite growing poverty, and which, according to the Urban Institute, provides "maximum benefits [that] even in the more generous states were far below the federal poverty level of $1,525 a month for a family of three."

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), another vital program that serves 50 million "food insecure" Americans, would be cut by $16 billion under the House version of the Farm Bill. The average recipient currently gets $4.30 a day for food.

Encouraged by the steady Republican demand for lower corporate tax rates, big business has effected a stunning shift in taxpaying responsibility over the years, from corporate income tax to worker payroll tax. For every dollar of payroll tax paid in the 1950s, corporations paid three dollars. Now it's 22 cents.

It's gotten worse in recent years, as corporations decided to drastically cut their tax rates after the start of the recession. After paying an average of 22.5% from 1987 to 2008, they've paid an annual rate of 10% since. This represents a sudden $250 billion annual loss in taxes.

Republicans claim that almost half of Americans don't pay taxes. But when payroll and state and local taxes are considered, middle-income Americans pay at about the same rate as the highest earners. Only about 17% of households paid no federal income tax or payroll tax in 2009. And average workers get little help from people who make most of the money. Because of the $110,000 cutoff for payroll tax deductions, the richest 10% of Americans save $150 billion a year in taxes.

3. Job Shrinkage -- Republicans want Young People to Pay

The jobs that exist for young Americans are paying much less than just a few years ago. During and after the recession, according to the National Employment Law Project, low-wage jobs ($7.69 to $13.83 per hour) dropped by 21 percent, and then grew back at a 58 percent rate. Mid-wage jobs ($13.84 to $21.13 per hour) dropped by 60 percent and grew back at a 22 percent rate. In other words, the median wage is falling fast.

Yet Republicans killed a jobs bill that was supported by two-thirds of the public.

An academic study of employment data over 64 years found that an average of two million jobs per year were created under Democratic presidents, compared to one million under Republican presidents. Similar results were reported by the Bloomberg Government Barometer.

4. Retirement Planning -- Republicans want the Seniors to Pay

There's a common misconception in our country that most seniors are financially secure. Actually, Census data reveals that elderly people experience greater inequality than any other population group, with the poorest one-fifth receiving just 5.5% of the group's total resources, while the wealthiest one-fifth receives 46%.

The senior wealth gap is further evidenced by data during the great 30-year surge in inequality. The average over-60 wealth was five times greater than the median in 1995, as would be expected with a small percentage of ultra-high-net-worth individuals and a great majority of low-wealth people. Further confirmation comes from 2004 Harvard data that shows rising inequality within all age groups, including the elderly. Indeed, an MIT study found that about 46% of U.S. senior citizens have less than $10,000 in financial assets when they die.

For the vast majority of seniors, Social Security has been life-sustaining, accounting for 55% of their annual income. Because of this successful and popular program, the senior poverty rate has dropped from 50% to 10%, and due to life-long contributions from working Americans the program has a $2.7 trillion surplus while contributing nothing to the deficit. Yet Republicans want to undo it.

5. Public Fire Sale -- Republicans want Society to Pay

The common good is threatened by the Republican disdain for public resources. Drilling and mining and pipeline construction continues on public lands, and the House of Representatives has voted over 100 times since 2011 to subsidize the oil and gas industry while weakening environmental, public health, and safety requirements. The "land grab" is pitting corporate muscle against citizens' rights.

Sadly, most of America envisions a new era of energy independence that increases our world-leading consumption of energy while depending on a proliferation of dirty technologies to extract it. Threats of methane emissions, water pollution, and earthquake activity don't deter the fossil fuel enthusiasts.

It gets worse. Republicans are eager to sell public land. Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" proposes to sell millions of acres of "unneeded federal land" and billions of dollars worth of federal assets. His running mate Mitt Romney admits that he doesn't know "what the purpose is" of public lands.

That brings us to the heart of the reasons not to vote Republican. Their reckless belief in the free market, and their dependency on corporatization and privatization to run the country, means that middle-class Americans keep paying for the fabulously wealthy people at the top who think they deserve everything they've taken from society.

Paul Buchheit is a college teacher with formal training in language development and cognitive science. He is the founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, RappingHistory.org, PayUpNow.org), and the editor and main author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (Clarity Press). He can be reached at paul@UsAgainstGreed.org.

I think we all agree that republicans are bad news...but what's the hold up with understanding that the democrats (especially Obama) are the "left" fist of the same 1% that controls the republicans? What's the hold up in understanding that Obama is a black Romney-clone?

What's the hold up in recognizing that the 1% is what must be defeated?

I think we put too much attention on the presidential race and not enough on congress and senate races. These are the fat cats returning year after year with more and more power and influence. Career politicians siting on committees and boards voting there own salary hikes and with a health care package batter than I can ever hope for. Forget about the president, let's talk term limits, asset disclosure and for God sake, some kind of oversight into what these people do in all those committees!

I think that all of these horse and pony shows are just to keep people busy chasing their tails and feeling like we have our freedom of speech. The shams up. Decades of indentured servitude to the slave masters and money changers hoping to elect some messiah that is going to give us Liberty. You know what they did with the last guy who tried to free the people and help the disenfranchised, nailed him to a cross.

We the people must not succumb to this sham and shame of an election. There is no lesser Evil in this case. Little difference leaves little choice for president. A third candidate with wide spread support is the only opportunity to defeat this hypocrisy, I wish the occupy movement had done more than protest and pound on bongos. My choice is not to vote and just do the best I can to heal and support those in my immediate sphere of influence. I will continue this way until the rest of the populace wakes up to reclaim the republic.

Obama's expansion of Bush's ugliest policies, particularly the "indefinite detention" law (the NDAA), is exactly why I do not want Obama selecting Justices for the Supreme Court any more than I want Romney selecting Justices for the Supreme Court!!!

The fact that the next president will be selecting justices is one of THE MOST IMPORTANT REASONS N O T to vote for either "right" or "left" fist of the same corporate rule!

Your reminder about how the president appoints justices for the US Supreme Court is what has confirmed my decision to vote for Jill Stein!

whuups! Kind of blows the argument away that Obama is better for the Supreme Court than Romney, doesn't it eh?

Oh, and did you hear how Obama nominated a top Tea Party advisor for Attorney? No? (well here's a link just in case)-
www.thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/08/03/286554/wtf-obama-lee/

It takes a severe case of cognitive dissonance not to recognize that Obama has spent the last 3 years expanding Bush's ugliest policies. If Obama's "indefinite detention" law (the NDAA) is not enough to convince you, then check out his top secret Trans-Pacific Partnership... If he were Obama's opponent today, Bush Jr would technically be the "lesser" evil.

...and you want someone like that selecting Justices for the US Supreme Court?

And don't try that "Romney will be worse" mantra because it doesn't get any worse than the irretrievable loss of human rights, democracy, and the earth, which re-electing Obama will guarantee. So if you're still not convinced then you deserve your black Romney-clone but the rest of us do not!!

Darwin deserves better than to be made the father of an economic theory OR a social theory. Darwin was a biologist and there is no logical connection to be made between his theory of evolution and these inane fig leaves that selfish pricks need to justify their callousness, to salve their fragile narcissistic funky selves. F*#k them.

This is an old human script. Shakespeare had a field day with this stuff. Greed, ego, lust, the slow erosion of values. Might make a good movie. But it's noxious when left to run an actual government that is presumably acting in the best interest of ALL it's citizens and presumes itself to be the great final bastion of democracy, small "d".

One has to live in a carefully contrived bubble to avoid the fact that like bush, like Obama as well, they are not the guys calling the shots. All that quid that comes prior to the election, has a healthy pro-quo afterwards. How and why did no one on Wall St. come to face criminal charges for scamming the economy of the nation into the tank? Could be all that quid-pro-quo goin" around. Based on that, how could anyone believe that romney would be any different than bush? And based on bush's performance, why would anyone want to repeat the exercise. It's one thing when the plutocrats get behind a particular candidate, it's another thing entirely when he's one of them.

Shakespeare said, "Gold was the common whore of humanity." Whether its oil, property, coin, etc the truth of the matter remains that man is an inherently flawed species incapable of keeping his fucking hands out of an open cookie jar. Every President takes "two" oaths. One for all the fawning masses who are awed by the bunting...and the patrician grandeur of the whole process. The other oath, the one that counts, is taken deep in the bowels of the White House, in probably some Mason type ritual, where the current "stooge-in-chief" swears to protect all the scum who donate large amounts of money, actually call the shots and to continue to do any and all possible to maintain and expand American empire. Time to start over.

If you don't know the difference between a lesser evil and a greater evil, you must not have aced History in school.

Sure, in an ideal world, one or both candidates would be angels, but we're not there, and no one expects angels in Washington. Just sit back and snarl and let others take SOME choices away from you. Must be nice to be grumpy and passive.

Republicans do not want poor to pay more than the rich, they just want the poor to pay more than the $0.00 in federal taxes that ~47% of them are paying now. That's why Romney wants to lower taxes for EVERYONE, but get rid of loopholes and deductions. People who are actually paying taxes wont see much change, but people who are paying nothing will have to start paying some.

No where in the Constitution does it say you have a right to someone else's money. It doesn't matter how much money you have, or the fact that your using government to do it, stealing is stealing. If we really have a country where half the people who aren't even paying taxes want others to pay their "fair share", then God help us all.

God can't help a fool. They don't pay taxes because they are not paid a honest wage. When the 7 waltons have more wealth then thirty per cent of this nation, then they should pay thirty per cent of the total tax bill.

Most of your articles are quite informative but this one was pure B.S. propaganda. Lies and distortion of facts. Typical of the tightly controlled mega media such as the New York Times. I am a Conservative BUT I am objective and look at both sides of the story . I accuse Bush , Cheny and Rumsfeld of being War Mongers and serial killers. They should have been put on trial for War Crimes. I also do not trust Romney who recently rushed over to Israel in order to grovel before Mammon and get their blessings . It all boils down to money and power . Israel is without a doubt " The Power Behind the Throne." At least Obama has not done that yet. He made a lot of promises before the 2008 elections and did not follow thru. [ as most politicians ] Our so called " Free Elections " are a farce . Only 2 political parties are allowed to run and there is little difference between the 2 parties . Both parties are quite happy playing musical chairs an taking turns at power . Both have sold out to the Fat Cats . In the past 60 years we the U.S.A. have instigated directly or indirectly well over 35 wars against poor 3 rd world countries who were no threat to us . Both parties approved . [ read Orwells book , 1984 ]
Our borders are wide open so that criminals , drug dealers , rapists , parasites looking for free medical care , welfare and potential Terrorists can easily cross over . At airports the legal taxpaying citizens go thru hell to get in and out. They say that we need the illegals because they will do the work that " Americans " will not do . But these " Americans " are quite happy being non employed and living on the dole , welfare , subsidized housing , food stamps , etc. I say , no work , no assistence , you are on your own. Why should I put in long hours and work hard so that they can stuff their faces at my expense. Both parties approve . The factories / heavy industry [ high paying jobs ] have been shipped overseas in order to increase bottom line profit . Both parties approve . These people do not even have to pay taxes on their profits until they bring the profits back to the U.S. Both parties approve .
Our school system has been dumbed down since Lyndon Johnson in 1965 . Both parties approve.
We have been gifting Israel well over $ 3 Billion every year for about 50 years now . They are a wealthy nation , we are close to bankrupt. When will it cease ?
Both parties approve .
The only hope for this country is for us to have a choice of at least 4 or 5 political parties. Both parties DO NOT approve.
Vote for me , " GrafHerman of the Benevolent Dictator Party " I will clean house.

Ooops, forgot : Obama has such a GREAT economic plan that his last budget was voted down by 100 % !!! That is, ZERO Democrats voted in favor of HIS Fantastic budget ! I guess we are going to have to get his message to his own party !

Way too many exaggerations , white lies, and out and out lies to rebut. Except to give you 5 reasons to NOT vote for Obama :
#1 Obama's first year had both houses of Congress and look at the mess the economy is in.
#2 Obama's second year had both houses of Congress and look how many are out of work OR working at Minimum wage jobs.
#3 Obama's third year still had the Senate and the economy is still tanking : obviously the Budget busting / Deficit building Stimulus has and will not work.
#4 Obama's forth year still has the economy tanking and he has the largest # on food stamps that there has ever been ! The young workers (especially young Blacks) have high unemployment rates that we have not seen since the Great Depression !
#5 Obama doesn't know what to do , EXCEPT more of the same ! Our pristine public lands will continue to be beautiful as ALL of us pay higher and higher energy prices.
The poor, the middle class, seniors, and yes, our society continues to suffer. Trickle-down government spending works in the short term only (the Labor Unions and local government workers that were hired by Stimulus dollars are just now starting to feel the bite). Our children (and grandchildren) will suffer for decades to come.
ANYBODY, but Obama !

You repeated the Republican position very well. Unfortunately every assertion you made is false or partially false.

Above all else, Republicans, like you, want us to forget that THEY crashed the economy. And this was not a run of the mill crash, this was world-wide depression threatening. And the GOP has done nothing but obstruct the recovery effort. So, don't bring your lies in here and expect us to believe.

We just aren't as easily misled as your dumbed down Republican followers.

I along with many others (including my husband) became very underemployed during the period from 2001 - 2004, and many others in small business or the local banking industry lost their jobs from 2004 - 2008 during a time when Dick Cheney, John McCain and President Bush were stating "our economy is strong." Many here in southern California and around the nation knew the economy was not strong, and this was evidenced by my household going from a $250,000/year income to as low as $10,000/year in 2007...that would be under George W. Bush that allowed for the economy to falter (before the huge economic collapse in the Fall of 2008) without trying to bring unemployment under control at the end of his second term!! The unpaid tax cuts to the wealthy from 2000 - 2008 did not work then or there would not have been unemployment under President Bush and the cuts continue to only add to the federal deficit now!! I am so happy that you kept your job, but many of the rest of the middle class have seen jobs shipped overseas since the 1970s (under several administrations Republican and Democrat alike) I AM DISGUSTED THAT NEITHER ROMNEY NOR OBAMA WILL MAKE THE TOUGH CHOICE OF SPEAKING 100% FACTUAL INFO REGARDING OUR ECONOMY . INSTEAD GOBS OF CORPORATE MONEY IS WASTED ON TRYING TO "BUY" A PRESIDENT THAT WILL CATER TO IT"S SPECIAL INTERESTS. WE NEED TO FIX THINGS AS A NATION, NOW!!! I think President Obama is a little bit more trustworthy by showing the American People that he did not bet against the US in 2008 to make money in investments outside of our borders. He has shown us his taxes, not hiding money offshore to avoid paying taxes and playing with loopholes and special deductions that the middle class is not entitled to. HOW IS THAT FAIR...only the rich get to keep their money whether earned or unearned, but the middle class just pay your fair share and shut up? Corporations, the wealthy, and the middle class it has been over 30 years of new tax loopholes and subsidies for special interest groups being continually written into our tax code that allows for the wealthy and corporations to not pay taxes anywhere near the top tax rates (although the Republicans enjoy throwing that 35% tax rate around...the middle class really has no choice but to pay the tax rate for their income bracket because we cannot afford expensive tax attorneys and tax accountants to lower our taxable income! The economy would not be tanking if the middle class could find a job, work that job, and then still afford health insurance premiums that were not linked to a job. Health insurance premiums and their lack of affordability amazingly are not in the main stream media even with sooooooo many people unemployed. AY CARUMBA!!!!

I along with many others (including my husband) became very underemployed during the period from 2001 - 2004, and many others in small business or the local banking industry lost their jobs from 2004 - 2008 during a time when Dick Cheney, John McCain and President Bush were stating "our economy is strong." Many here in southern California and around the nation knew the economy was not strong, and this was evidenced by my household going from a $250,000/year income to as low as $10,000/year in 2007...that would be under George W. Bush that allowed for the economy to falter (before the huge economic collapse in the Fall of 2008) without trying to bring unemployment under control at the end of his second term!! The unpaid tax cuts to the wealthy from 2000 - 2008 did not work then or there would not have been unemployment under President Bush and the cuts continue to only add to the federal deficit now!! I am so happy that you kept your job, but many of the rest of the middle class have seen jobs shipped overseas since the 1970s (under several administrations Republican and Democrat alike) I AM DISGUSTED THAT NEITHER ROMNEY NOR OBAMA WILL MAKE THE TOUGH CHOICE OF SPEAKING 100% FACTUAL INFO REGARDING OUR ECONOMY . INSTEAD GOBS OF CORPORATE MONEY IS WASTED ON TRYING TO "BUY" A PRESIDENT THAT WILL CATER TO IT"S SPECIAL INTERESTS. WE NEED TO FIX THINGS AS A NATION, NOW!!! I think President Obama is a little bit more trustworthy by showing the American People that he did not bet against the US in 2008 to make money in investments outside of our borders. He has shown us his taxes, not hiding money offshore to avoid paying taxes and playing with loopholes and special deductions that the middle class is not entitled to. HOW IS THAT FAIR...only the rich get to keep their money whether earned or unearned, but the middle class just pay your fair share and shut up? Corporations, the wealthy, and the middle class it has been over 30 years of new tax loopholes and subsidies for special interest groups being continually written into our tax code that allows for the wealthy and corporations to not pay taxes anywhere near the top tax rates (although the Republicans enjoy throwing that 35% tax rate around...the middle class really has no choice but to pay the tax rate for their income bracket because we cannot afford expensive tax attorneys and tax accountants to lower our taxable income! The economy would not be tanking if the middle class could find a job, work that job, and then still afford health insurance premiums that were not linked to a job. Health insurance premiums and their lack of affordability amazingly are not in the main stream media even with sooooooo many people unemployed. AY CARUMBA!!!!

Regarding "job shrinkage": The economy is not a zero-sum game in which the 1% are able to suck up so much money that there is none left for anyone else. Young people who are just entering the job market need to realize that trivial jobs can and ARE being taken over by robots, for which the minimum wage is $0, with no chance for "growing back" at any rate whatsoever. Older "construction laborers" and such who become jobless and believe they ever were "middle class" are kidding themselves. The 1% are not obligated to provide welfare, and anyone in the 99% who thinks any government (federal, state, or local) will ever pick up the slack is delusional.
There is far more shrinkage in the American work ethic than in the American job market. Check out a new book and movie, "Half the Sky," and see the trend in global shipbuilding for examples of the opportunities we miss every day and have been missing for a very long time. Prepare to be very, very ashamed.

apparently, for middle-class Republicans, paying higher taxes and seeing their great nation turned into a third-world shithole is a small price to pay to make sure that the super-rich super-men who carry the world on their shoulders don't have to pay anything... and perhaps more importantly, they wanna see those shiftless, immoral inner-city minorities get the punishment they so richly deserve. it's like Jesus said: "get thy lazy asses to work, ye stinking lepers!"

When all taxes (federal, state, county, local and school district) and quasi taxes (think user fees, franchise fees, license fees, mandated liability insurance, mortgage insurance, etc.) are added to income taxes, FICA, property taxes, sales taxes, tobacco and alcohol taxes, gasoline taxes, etc. our tax system is barely progressive at best. The lower and middle classes are already carrying more than their share of the governmental burden right now. The Repugnicans want to increase it even more to benefit the 1%.

Enjoyed the article. However, would suggest expanding the list of public goods at risk with the Republican disdain of the common good: privatization of education (K-12 and higher); privatization of roads; privatization of welfare services. My state has enthusiastically embraced all three to disasterous effect.

. . . and all this privatization is gleefully accepted by an ignorant public that seems to have missed the point that their taxes originally paid for these public entities that are being given free of charge to private individuals and groups that will extract a generous private profit from the same people who paid to create and build them. We have the same problem in my state with an additional caveat that taxpayers will continue to pay taxes to maintain these same entities that now cost them additional money to utilize. They say beauty is only skin deep, but stupid goes all the way to the bone !

Then there's the ethical consideration centered around Representative Government. Does anyone remember when we practiced that? All of those worthies on that side of the aisle were elected to represent a group of people who don't seem to realize they are no longer being represented in government. That concept has been winked at for far too long. If the "Christian" Right wants to take up a banner, that's one they can reclaim from the muddied field, clean off the deceit and lies and bear without hypocrisy.
Trickle Down? We're still dealing with that Reagan-Era nonsense. Of course, for those of us downstream of the dams built by the modern day Robber barons to stem that flow, one is reminded of those Westerns we used to see on the weekends where the cattlemen got along with each other 'til the greedy rancher dammed the stream. The guys in the white hats had to blow up the dam to restore peace and order. Figuratively speaking of course, but perhaps a little legislative return to good sense and sanity within the Beltway might blow away the miasma that seems to infect the residents of Foggy Bottom.
I still think that the only person to master the "Tea Party" concept was Walt Disney....and he did it without bringing the country or the economy to a disastrous halt.

Tax the rich like they did for the years before Reagan's "Trickle Down" BS. For the 1930's, 1940's 1950's, 1960's & 1970's we had an average of 30 Tax Brackets compared to todays 6. These brackets ranged from 4% for income up to $64,000. which would cover over 60% of todays earners, all the way up to 79% for income over $79Million. This is what we need today. If the Democrats can't propose a larger tax hike than what we had in the Clinton era, we are not going to get the Middle Class built back up to the economy we were used to for the decades leading up to this fiasco. We need at least 20 Brackets to $20Million, & a top rate of 60%. God Bless the Middle Class.

JOBS--ONE OF BEST
THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICA'S MIDDLE CLASS WAS A CHOICE, NOT AN ACCIDENT
BARTLETT-STEELE TRUTH-OUT.ORG
These two have been writing it since 1992 Book--”America-What went Wrong”
How have things changed since then for the middle class? They say “straight downhill-
Thanks to the few ruling class which is having its way.”
Wages stagnating and going down, benefits jeopardized or disappearing, and our country being divided into a nation of have-mores and have-lesses. Public policy gave incentive to corporations to outsource. They say high wages excuse is malarkey. They say main reason is incentives provided by foreign governments and, then, when companies bring their product back there is essentially no tariff on it. Trade deficits=lost jobs. The ones remaining should be saying”Look, we are really working for the best interest of American workers here and we need some help”.
“The problem is, you have the mindset in Washington, in Congress and basically with every administration, that trade should be unrestricted.”
Recent Example: Hanesbrands—biggest hosiery -men' underwear—Winston Salem NC-
In 2010, Chinese government built them huge modern plant. All US plants closed.
Check the current retail price look for much lower price. Ha Ha Ha
The four page article tells us so much about what happened and tough choices to recapture/keep our jobs. Bartlett-Steele are Icons on Jobs. Bless them.
Tariff on imports.

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